• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.89-102
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• 2013

24-hr $PM_{2.5}$ samples were collected from January 19 through February 27, 2009 at an urban site of Gwangju and analyzed to determine the concentrations of organic and elemental carbon(OC and EC), water-soluble OC(WSOC), eight ionic species($Na^+$, $NH^{4+}$, $K^+$, $Ca^{2+}$, $Mg^{2+}$, $Cl^-$, ${NO_3}^-$ and ${SO_4}^{2-}$), and 22 elemental species. Haze phenomena was observed during approximately 29%(10 times) of the whole sampling period(35 days), resulting in highly elevated concentrations of $PM_{2.5}$ and its chemical components. An Asian dust event was also observed, during which $PM_{2.5}$ concentration was 64.5 ${\mu}g/m^2$. Crustal materials during Asian dust event contributed 26.6% to the $PM_{2.5}$, while lowest contribution(5.1%) was from the haze events. OC/EC and WSOC/OC ratios were found to be higher during haze days than during other sampling days, reflecting an enhanced secondary organic aerosol production under the haze conditions. For an Asian dust event, enhanced concentrations of OC and secondary inorganic components were also found, suggesting the further atmospheric processing of precursor gases during transport of air mass to the sampling site. Correlations among WSOC, EC, ${NO_3}^-$, ${SO_4}^{2-}$, and primary and secondary OC fractions, which were predicted from EC tracer method, suggests that the observed WSOC could be formed from similar formation processes as those of secondary organic aerosol, ${NO_3}^-$ and ${SO_4}^{2-}$. Results from principal component analysis indicate also that the observed WSOC was strongly associated with formation routes of the secondary organic and inorganic aerosols.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.159-172
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• 2019

To investigate the influence of pollution events on the chemical composition and formation processes of aerosol particles, 24-h integrated size-segregated particulate matter (PM) was collected during the fall season at an urban site of Gwangju, Korea and was used to determine the concentrations of mass, water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) and ionic species. Furthermore, black carbon (BC) concentrations were observed with an aethalometer. The entire sampling period was classified into four periods, i.e., typical, pollution event I, pollution event II, and an Asian dust event. Stable meteorological conditions (e.g., low wind speed, high surface pressure, and high relative humidity) observed during the two pollution events led to accumulation of aerosol particles and increased formation of secondary organic and inorganic aerosol species, thus causing $PM_{2.5}$ increase. Furthermore, these stable conditions resulted in the predominant condensation or droplet mode size distributions of PM, WSOC, $NO_3{^-}$, and $SO{_4}^{2-}$. However, difference in the accumulation mode size distributions of secondary water-soluble species between pollution events I and II could be attributed to the difference in transport pathways of air masses from high-pollution regions and the formation processes for the secondary chemical species. The average absorption ${\AA}ngstr{\ddot{o}}m$ exponent ($AAE_{370-950}$) for 370-950 nm wavelengths > 1.0 indicates that the BC particles from traffic emissions were likely mixed with light absorbing brown carbon (BrC) from biomass burning (BB) emissions. It was found that light absorption by BrC in the near UV range was affected by both secondary organic aerosol and BB emissions. Overall, the pollution events observed during fall at the study site can be due to the synergy of unfavorable meteorological conditions, enhanced secondary formation, local emissions, and long-range transportation of air masses from upwind polluted areas.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.43-54
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• 2021

Size distributions of atmospheric particulate matter (PM) and its water-soluble organic and inorganic components were measured between January and February 2021 at an urban site in Gwangju in order to identify the major factors that determine their size distributions. Their size distributions during the study period were mainly divided into two groups. In the first group, PM, NO₃^-, SO₄^2-, NH₄⁺ and water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) exhibited bi-modal size distributions with a dominant condensation mode at a particle size of 0.32 ㎛. This group was dominated by local production of secondary water-soluble components under atmospheric stagnation and low relative humidity (RH) conditions, rather than long-range transportation of aerosol particles from China. On the other hand, in the second group, they showed tri-modal size distributions with a very pronounced droplet mode at a diameter of 1.0 ㎛. These size distributions were attributable to the local generation and accumulation of secondary aerosol particles under atmospheric conditions such as atmospheric stagnation and high RH, and an increase in the influx of atmospheric aerosol particles by long-distance transportation abroad. Contributions of droplet mode NO₃^-, SO₄^2-, NH₄⁺ and WSOC to fine particles in the second group were significantly higher than those in the first group period. However, their condensation mode contributions were about two-fold higher in the first group than in the second group. The significant difference in the size distribution of the accumulation mode of the WSOC and secondary ionic components between the two groups was due to the influx of aerosol particles with a long residence time by long-distance transport from China and local weather conditions (e.g., RH).

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.418-429
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• 2018

Measurements of 24-hr size-segregated ambient particles were made at an urban site of Gwangju under high pressure conditions occurred in the Korean Peninsula late in March 2018. The aim of this study was to understand the effect of air stagnation on mass size distributions and formation pathways of water-soluble organic and inorganic components. During the study period, the $NO_3{^-}$, $SO_4{^{2-}}$, $NH_4{^+}$, water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), and humic-like substances(HULIS) exhibited mostly bi-modal size distributions peaking at 1.0 and $6.2{\mu}m$, with predominant droplet modes. In particular, outstanding droplet mode size distributions were observed on March 25 when a severe haze occurred due to stable air conditions and long range transport of aerosol particles from northeastern regions of China. Air stagnation conditions and high relative humidity during the study period resulted in accumulation of primary aerosol particles from local emission sources and enhanced formation of secondary ionic and organic aerosols through aqueous-phase oxidations of $SO_2$, $NO_2$, $NH_3$, and volatile organic compounds, leading to their dominant droplet mode size distributions at particle size of $1.0{\mu}m$. From the size distribution of $K^+$ in accumulation mode, it can be inferred that in addition to the secondary organic aerosol formations, accumulation mode WSOC and HULIS could be partly attributed to biomass burning emissions.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.495-506
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• 2020

This study investigated the nitrate formation process, and mass closure of Particulate Matter (PM) were calculated over the urbanized area of Jeju Island. The data for eight water-soluble inorganic ions and nineteen elements in PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ were used. The results show that the nitrate concentration increased as excess ammonium increased in ammonium-rich samples. Furthermore, nitrate formation was not as important in ammonium-poor samples as it was in previous studies. According to the sum of the measured species, approximately 45~53% of gravimetric mass of PM remained unidentified. To calculate the mass closure for both PM_2.5 and PM₁₀, PM chemical components were categorized into secondary inorganic aerosol, crustal matter, sea salt, trace matter and unidentified matter. The results by the mass reconstruction of PM components show that the portion of unidentified matter was decreased from 52.7% to 44.0% in PM_2.5 and from 45.1% to 29.1% in PM₁₀, despite the exclusion of organic matter and elemental carbon.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.447-456
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• 2017

Chemical properties of aerosols were investigated by analyzing the inorganic water-soluble content in $PM_{2.5}$ collected in the downtown area of Jeju City in Jeju Island. Due to an increase in both the number of visiting tourists and the size of local population, the number of cars in this area is increasing, causing an increase in $PM_{2.5}$. Eight $PM_{2.5}$-bound major inorganic ions were analyzed during the summer and winter periods. The water-soluble inorganic component represents a significant fraction of $PM_{2.5}$. In particular, secondary inorganic aerosols contribute 36.2% and 47.5% of $PM_{2.5}$ mass in summer and winter, respectively. Nitrate concentrations increase for $[NH_4{^+}]/[SO_4{^{2-}}]$>1.5, and excess ammonium, which is necessary for ammonium nitrate formation, is linearly correlated with nitrate. These results are clearly observed during the winter because conditions are more conducive to the formation of ammonium nitrate. A significant negative correlation between Nitrogen Oxidation Ratio (NOR) and temperature was observed. The obtained results can be useful for a better understanding of the aerosol dynamics in the downtown area in Jeju City.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.411-429
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• 2015

The Korea Ministry of Environment has established an air quality standard for $PM_{2.5}$ in 2012 and it is effective from January 2015. In this study, we review various aspects of $PM_{2.5}$ in China, including its measurement, modeling, source apportionment, and health effect, and suggest future research directions for $PM_{2.5}$ studies in Korea. Measurements studies for $PM_{2.5}$ have examined organic marker compounds and $^{14}C$ as well as inorganic aerosols for distinguishing sources. Modeling results supported that the control of $PM_{2.5}$ pollution in big city needs effective cooperation between city and its surrounding regions. The major $PM_{2.5}$ sources in China have been identified to be secondary sulfur, motor vehicle emissions, coal combustion, dust, biomass burning, and industrial sources, however, they have seasonal dependency. Especially, the severe haze pollution event during January 2013 over eastern and northern China was driven to a large extent by secondary aerosol formation. Short-term exposure to $PM_{2.5}$ is strongly associated with the increased risk of morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, as well as total non-accidental mortality. Considered previous $PM_{2.5}$ studies in China, analysis of specific organic species using online measurement, chamber experiment for secondary aerosol formation mechanism, and development of parameterizing this process in the model are needed to elucidate factors governing the abundance and composition of $PM_{2.5}$ in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.497-507
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• 2015

Real-time and quantitative measurement of the chemical composition in ambient aerosols represents one of the most challenging problems in the field of atmospheric chemistry. In the present study, time resolved application by Aerosol-into-Mist System (AIMS) following by total organic carbon analyzer (TOC) has been developed. The unique aspect of the combination of these two techniques is to provide quantifiable water soluble organic carbon (WSOC) information of particle-phase organic compounds on timescales of minutes. We also demonstrated that the application of the AIMS method is not limited to water-soluble organic carbon but inorganic ion compounds. By correlating the volume concentrations by optical particle sizer (OPS), water soluble organic carbon can be highly related to the secondary organic products. AIMS-TOC method can be potentially applied to probe the formation and evolution mechanism of a variety of SOA behaviors in ambient air.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.91-106
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• 2021

Daily PM_2.5 was collected during summer period in 2020 in Gwangju to investigate its chemical and light absorption properties. In addition, real-time light absorption coefficients were observed using a dual-spot 7-wavelength aethalometer. During the study period, SO₄^2- was the most important contributor to PM_2.5, accounting for on average 33% (10-64%) of PM_2.5. The chemical form of SO₄^2- was appeared to be combination of 70% (NH₄)₂SO₄ and 30% NH₄HSO₄. Concentration-weighted trajectory (CWT) analysis indicated that SO₄^2- particles were dominated by local pollution, rather than regional transport from China. A combination of aethalometer-based and water-extracted brown carbon (BrC) absorption indicated that light absorption of BrC due to aerosol particles was 1.6 times higher than that due to water-soluble BrC, but the opposite result was found in absorption Ångström exponent (AAE) values. Lower AAE value by aerosol BrC particles was due to the light absorption of aerosol BrC by both water-soluble and insoluble organic aerosols. The BrC light absorption was also influenced by both primary sources (e.g., traffic and biomass burning emissions) and secondary organic aerosol formation. Finally the ATR-FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of NH₄⁺, C-H groups, SO₄^2-, and HSO₄^2-. The presence of HSO₄^2- supports the result of the estimated composition ratio of inorganic sulfate ((NH₄)₂SO₄) and bisulfate (NH₄HSO₄).

• Clean Technology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.136-143
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• 2008

The objective of this study is to investigate the visibility of plume at the Y power plant stack, which fires the orimulsion as a fuel. The plume contains numerous primary particles under $1\;{\mu}m$ size and inorganic ions possibly inferred by the chemicals of secondary aerosol formation. We evaluated the visibility of the plume using the modified PLUVUE-II model. The monitoring data on the particle size distribution (PSD) and secondary aerosols of sulfate were applied to estimate and evaluate the main factors of plume opacity. The chemical reactions were applied to the model for the secondary aerosol formation of $(NH_4)_2SO_4(s)$. The maximum plume length was estimated by an optic method using threshold contrast. The results showed that the plume length was strongly dependent upon the PSD and $(NH_4)_2SO_4(s)$ concentration of the plume emitted from the stack.